Computer systems, particularly personal computers, typically include a central processing unit and a number of peripheral, or auxiliary, devices, such as keyboards, mice, disk drives, printers, speakers, microphones, videocassette recorders, optical-disk players, and even cameras, that communicate with the central processing unit. The central processing unit and the peripheral devices usually communicate via a two-way wired or wireless communications channel, known as a serial bus, which transfers data as a stream of electric signals representing a sequence of ones and zeros.
In both wired and wireless cases, communications typically follow a packet communications protocol, which entails segmenting the sequence of ones and zeros into packets further segmented into subpackets, known as fields. A packet usually includes a packet-identifier field, an address field, and a data field, with each field having a size, or length, dependent on the number of bits, or ones and zeros, it contains.
One packet communications protocol is the PS2 (PS/2 or DOS-compatible) protocol used for communications between pointing devices, such as mice, and a central processing unit. (PS/2 is a trademark of the International Business Machines Corporation.) PS2 peripherals, peripherals that use the PS2 protocol, are generally connected to a personal computer using a PS2 connector that mates with a PS2 communications port on the computer. For wireless PS2 peripherals, the PS2 communications port includes a wireless transceiver.
Recently, an alternative protocol, the Universal Serial Bus (USB) protocol, has been developed to overcome shortcomings of the PS2 protocol, specifically its inability to handle audio, compressed video, and other high-data-rate signals. USB peripherals, that is, peripherals that use the USB protocol requires a unique connector that connects to a communications port on a personal computer. Like PS2 ports, USB ports may also include a wireless transceiver for wireless USB peripherals.
To communicate with both PS2 and USB peripherals, existing personal computers must include a PS2 port for peripherals requiring the PS2 protocol and a separate USB port for peripherals requiring the USB protocol. This creates a problem when using wireless USB and PS2 peripherals with the same personal computer. Specifically, using both types of wireless peripherals currently requires two wireless transmitters, one for the wireless PS2 peripheral and another for the wireless USB peripheral. This arrangement increases the cost of both peripherals and may ultimately lead many consumers to forego the convenience of one of the wireless peripherals.
Accordingly, there is a need for systems, devices, and methods that enable cost-effective, side-by-side use of wireless PS2 and USB peripherals.